68 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



Raising my rifle I took a quiet aim, 

 intending to kill my beast as neatly as possible, 

 but before I could pull trigger or even align 

 my sights, another report startled the chamois, 

 and sent him in a couple of bounds out of 

 sight. My first impulse was to send Simon 

 after the chamois he had missed, and I col- 

 lared him in the first moments of my rage, 

 with that intention. But second thouo;hts 

 were best ; to thrash a Svan may not be diffi- 

 cult at the moment, but unfortunately you are 

 never safe from his bullet for the rest of your 

 life, after you have thrashed him ; besides, 

 without Simon I could never have found my 

 way back to Ushkul. So in bitterness of 

 spirit I ordered him to take the shortest road 

 to the village, stubbornly refusing to accede 

 to his request that I would say nothing of his 

 escapade to the other Svans. 



When we struck the home road, it was 

 about two o'clock, and we had not gone far 



